A note from Irma L. Muniz:
Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, December 13, Ramsey turns 63! Those of you who wish to send a card may write at the address below. Know that the mail runs very slow….
U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners
Ramiro R. Muniz -n 40288-115
P.O. Box 4000
Springfield, MO 65801
(San Antonio, TEXAS) On behalf of the Edgewood Districts1, MALDEF today filed a Motion for Rehearing with the Texas Supreme Court urging the Court to remand the issue of facilities financing back to the trial court. Because the Supreme Court established a new legal standard for proving a violation of the Texas Constitution with respect to facilities financing, MALDEF argued that the Supreme Court should allow the trial court to conduct further proceedings on the matter.
In its opinion and judgment released on November 22, 2005, the Supreme Court recognized the glaring deficiencies in the Edgewood Districts that force them to place children in overcrowded classrooms, inadequate and unsafe science labs, and classrooms with inadequate heating, air conditioning and ventilation. The Court also recognized that property-poor districts cannot access the funds to address their needs, because the taxpayers in those districts cannot afford tax rates that are as much as twenty times higher than rates in property-rich districts. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the Court stated that the Edgewood Districts also should have presented evidence of similar facilities needs in other districts.
“The Court has never previously required evidence of ‘similar needs’ in other districts, only evidence of needs in the plaintiffs’ own districts and the disproportionate tax burden borne by their taxpayers. Nonetheless, in other far less important cases in which the Supreme Court developed new standards, the Court sent those cases back to the trial court and allowed the plaintiffs to present evidence relevant to the new standards,” said David Hinojosa, MALDEF Staff Attorney and lead counsel for the Edgewood Districts in the case.
He added: “The leadership in this State remains unconcerned and unresponsive to the facilities needs of children in property-poor districts. An efficient educational system, in the constitutional sense or in any other sense, cannot be one in which the children in property-poor districts continue to be subjected to dilapidated classrooms and dangerous learning environments. Texas’s legacy of neglecting the schools for the poor must end now.”
A national nonprofit organization founded in 1968, MALDEF promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, higher education scholarships and when necessary, through the legal system.
[Press Release via email Dec. 7, 2005–gm]
(Washington, D.C.) – MALDEF President and General Counsel Ann Marie Tallman announced the Latino civil rights organization’s strong opposition to the enforcement-only immigration legislation introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).
“The Sensenbrenner bill is more of the enforcement-only approach that has failed American communities, families and businesses over the past decade. It targets individuals who are present here due to labor demands and may be undocumented but are otherwise law-abiding and contributing residents. This ill serves the nation’s economic needs and ignores our country’s immigrant traditions,” said Tallman. “True leadership is needed to tackle this important issue affecting all of us. We call upon the Bush Administration and Congressional leaders to reject this approach and advance comprehensive reform that includes enforcement, an earned path to legalization for individuals to work and live lawfully, and labor law enforcement so that unscrupulous employers do not enjoy economic incentives through the exploitation of immigrant labor.”
Among the many anti-immigrant measures in the Sensenbrenner bill are provisions that would: 1) strip citizenship opportunities that are currently available to legal immigrants; 2) curtail fundamental Due Process rights in immigration proceedings; and 3) make it a criminal offense to remain in the country illegally after entering legally.
In addition, the bill would vastly expand the computer verification of all employees in the United States. “Expanding the so-called Basic Pilot Program will lead to errors and discrimination affecting U.S. citizens and legally authorized workers. It wrongly intrudes into union hiring halls and day laborer centers but does not keep unscrupulous employers from continuing to avoid the system,” observed MALDEF Senior Vice President for Law and Policy John Trasviña.
Eric M. Gutiérrez, Legislative Staff Attorney, noted that the bill not only fails to address core concerns in immigration reform, but at the same time, is both overbroad and dangerously narrow: “The bill limits the rights of legal immigrants while attempting to combat unauthorized immigration; yet it is unduly narrow because it focuses upon enforcement while ignoring the need for programs that would encourage legal immigration and naturalization.”
MALDEF continues to support the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bills sponsored by Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy and Representatives Jim Kolbe, Jeff Flake, and Luis Gutiérrez. These bills combine tough enforcement with realistic admission policies, have bipartisan support, and are workable.
A national nonprofit organization founded in 1968, MALDEF promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, higher education scholarships and when necessary, through the legal system.
[Press Release via email Dec. 7, 2005–gm]
San Antonio (Texas) – The recent disclosure that political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice overruled the findings and recommendations of career attorneys that Texas congressional redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act provides more proof that Latino voters’s political strength was diluted in the 2003 redistricting plan.
“The memorandum makes clear that DOJ attorneys who initially reivewed the Texas redistricting plan agreed with MALDEF that it discriminated against Latino voters. Had the political appointees not intervened, the plan would not have gone into effect,” commented Nina Perales, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel and lead attorney for the American GI Forum of Texas and other Latino plaintiffs in the Texas redistricting litigation.
“The U.S. Supreme Court can and should take judicial notice of this new information in considering whether to grant a full hearing in our pending appeal,” continued Ms. Perales.
MALDEF filed GI Forum v. Perry, a challenge to the Texas congressional redistricting plan on behalf of Latino voters in 2003. Now consolidated with Session v. Perry, which features claims by African American voters and Democratic incumbents, the case is pending on direct appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A link to the Justice Department memorandum can be found at:
Click to access texasDOJmemo.pdf
Founded in 1968, MALDEF is a national non-profit, civil rights organization which protects and promotes the civil rights of Latinos through advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, higher education scholarships and, when necessary, through the legal system.
MALDEF Press Release via email Dec. 7, 2005–gm
MoPress 